Surrounded by Darkness
by Boba Addict
Summary: AU. Zombies are horrible monsters. Or at least, that's what everyone says. But when the herd lands themselves in a mysterious world occupied by zombies, they must find a way to return home - and they might just meet up with an old friend.
1. Prologue

**Okay, okay, I need to update ELitIA, I know. But this idea has been lodged in my brain for a while now, and I finally decided to put it down in the computer, 'cause it's about time I start writing less humorous, darker plots.**

**By the way, to avoid any confusion, this is set in an AU where Diego really got killed by Soto in the first movie. In other words, he's dead, and other than Manny and Sid, none of the herd members have any idea who he is. Other than that part, everything pretty much stays the same. And heck, even Shira's in this thing too. But no Diego. You got that now? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you got that. M'kay, I'll shut up now so you can read on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age, or zombies will dominate the alternate world. Heh. You'll see what I mean later.**

_Zombies._

_They're brain-sucking monsters, though they have no brain of their own. Or at least, that's what everyone says. But what everyone says is not always the truth. Sometimes, but not always. And on this fateful day, an odd herd of animals, will find this out, and will be on their darkest, most supernatural adventure yet. And perhaps the origins of their group will finally be dug back up, delved into, and revealed..._

* * *

"Sid, for the last time, NO!"

"Come on, Manny, please!"

A mammoth and a sloth were arguing back and forth, while a female mammoth, presumably the mate of the male, and a female saber-toothed tigress watched with blank looks.

The tigress looked up at the mammoth cow. "Do I even want to know?"

"SID! I am _not_ a piñata that little kids get to hit! Therefore, I am _not _helping you with your little school!"

On the sidelines, the female mammoth looked back at the tigress. "Now you know, whether you wanted to or not."

"But... But don't you remember what happened last time, Manny?!" Sid whined.

The mammoth, now known as Manny, let out an exasperated sigh. "Which is why I'm telling you to just give up on this camp."

"Alright you ladies, let's change the topic now, shall we?" The mammoth cow interrupted, finally stepping in and taking charge.

"Ellie!" Manny exclaimed, relieved that he didn't have to end up giving in to Sid's pleas for assistance.

"Did you just call us girls?" Sid asked, confused.

"Suppose I did," Ellie shrugged.

"I'm a male! A man! _Un hombre_! Right, Shira?!"

The tigress shot the sloth a look. "Why are you getting me into this? I have nothing to do with the fact that you act like a total prissy."

Sid gave an overdramatic sigh. "You lot are so mean... Everyone hates me..."

Manny rolled his eyes. "I'll never get sloths and their melodrama..."

"SIDNEY! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY TEETH?!"

"...Or their craziness," Manny finished.

An elderly female sloth seemingly around the age of 80 had hobbled over, pointing her walking stick defensively at any passerby on the island, who simply just shot her a weirded out look in return. Once she approached the odd foursome, she whirled on the younger sloth, starting to beat him mercilessly with her armed weapon.

"Ow – I don't know – ow – what happened with your – ow – teeth, Granny! You were – ow – the one who – ow – had them – ow – last!"

"Don't you use that tone with me, Sidney! You need to become more polite like your friends over here!" Sid's dear old grandmother started to hit him harder.

"Why is Uncle Sid getting beaten this time?" A new voice joined the group.

Manny smiled at the sight of his daughter. "Peaches! I was worried about you! Where were you?! You weren't hanging out with that Ethan boy again, were you?!"

Peaches frowned. "Dad! I thought you weren't going to baby me anymore!"

"Manny, I know it's hard for you to get used to leaving your daughter to make her own decisions, but you really need to try to not get your tail in a knot," Ellie agreed.

"Hey! I'm not getting my tail in a knot! I just don't like Ethan very much!"

"What has Ethan ever done to you?" asked Peaches.

"For one thing, he insulted this herd, and he's lucky that I'm not doing anything about it. Two, he gives me a bad feeling! You were pretty much on top of him when I first saw you guys together!"

Peaches rolled her eyes. "That was an accident! If the stupid falls weren't so slippery, that wouldn't have happened!"

"Has... Hasn't anybody noticed me?" A timid voice piped up.

Manny's rants stopped as he suddenly noticed a tiny mammal on his daughter's back. "Oh, hey Wiener."

"Hey, you notice Wiener but you don't notice us?!"

"Um... My name is Louis..." Wiener, or Louis, softly said, though he was ignored.

"Hey guys," Ellie greeted two possums, Crash and Eddie, sitting behind Louis. "What are you doing?"

"Just doing supernatural experiments," Eddie said proudly.

Manny rolled his eyes. "Not that again."

"Hey! Halloween's coming up, and it's about time we actually see zombies or ghosts or vampires lurking around at night!" Crash yelled defensively.

"If you ask me, those things will come out _on_ Halloween only, not when it's almost Halloween," Shira commented, casually examining her claws.

"I don't think I'm going to do anything this year for Halloween actually," Manny remarked.

"Are you serious, dude?! It's like, the best holiday of the year!" Crash shouted.

"Your opinion is respected. Now stop shouting; I can hear you perfectly fine with you talking in your normal voice level."

All of them were so wrapped up in their little banter, they failed to hear a faint rumbling from the ground, until it gradually grew louder and louder.

"Um... I'm not the only one who hears that...right?" Peaches asks skeptically.

Right when those words escaped her mouth, the earth began to shake.

"The world isn't ending again, is it?!" Louis exclaimed over the noise, clearly frightened out of his wits.

"No, WAIT! Everyone don't move!" Manny shouted.

The rumbling slowly ceased to a stop, and the earth became silent once more. Just when Manny was about to say the coast was clear, the ground opened up, right where the group was standing. They all fell in, screaming, until they all landed with a thud on the ground.

Sid rubbed his head and looked around. He was now surrounded in a dense, foggy atmosphere, with no trees or water in sight.

"...Manny?" He called out tentatively.

"I'm here, Sid," he heard Manny call back from nearby. "Where are we?"

"...I don't know," Sid finally said after moments of silence, creeped out by the landscape before him and his friend.

Manny looked around. "Oh boy," he sighed.

**Okay, I give you the prologue, folks! This part is boring, I know. I can't wait till I get to the good stuff! Leave a review if you liked it, and if you want, try guessing where the herd is now! ;)**


	2. Must Have Been A Zombie

**I think I'm getting absorbed into this story…or I wouldn't have updated so soon.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

"Manny? Sid?" Ellie called out nervously. "Can you hear me? Are you there?"

No answer came.

"Mom?" a voice called out faintly.

Ellie whirled her head around toward the sound of her daughter's voice. Through the fog, she could barely make out the shape of Peaches standing a few feet away. She inwardly sighed in relief, glad that she finally found someone after minutes (though it felt like hours) of searching.

"Where are we? There was a sudden earthquake and we all fell into the crack in the ground, right?" Peaches asked, trying not to make her voice waver out of fright.

"I think so. I'm not a geologist, but I seriously doubt that that was natural," Ellie replied, equally bewildered. What just _happened_? Cracks don't just open up suddenly like sinkholes and have animals fall in…right?

"Eerie and spooky… I like it!" Crash spoke up. Ellie only then noticed him and Eddie still located on Peaches' back. She sighed in exasperation.

"Come on, you two, this is serious. We need to get back to the island. If we stick around here, we'll die. Notice the emptiness of this place?" She gestured to their surroundings.

"We'll have to find Dad and everyone else first, right?" Peaches reminded her.

"Of course, sweetie. There will never be a day when we leave any members of our herd for dead," Ellie reassured.

"Well, what are we standing around here for?" Eddie piped up. "Let's get going!"

* * *

Shira growled in frustration. Out of all the animals in the herd, why'd she end up with the wiener molehog and the cranky old sloth? She didn't hate them – they're fellow herd members, so obviously she couldn't bring herself to do that – and they weren't bothering her that much, but she had to face it – Louis and Granny weren't exactly the best to spend time with, especially when the former was slightly afraid of her and her species and when the latter was just plain irritating.

"Gah, NUTS!" Granny was complaining. "It's cold out here, I can hardly see anythin', and my teeth are still missin'!"

Shira fought back the urge to glare daggers at the older sloth, instead focusing at the scene before her, trying to walk in a straight line without getting the three of them lost; even her sharp eyes were confused by the density of the fog. Eventually, she stopped.

"I usually don't pay any mind to empty landscapes, but I swear that I've seen that dirt patch at least ten times already," she announced.

"So we're walking in circles?" Louis asked, voice clearly filled with despair.

"Great job, Sidney!" Granny barked harshly. "You got us lost, just like you did all those other times!"

She swung her cane at Shira, who ducked. If she actually managed to think I'm that smelly grandson of hers, the saber thought, this fog must be making her woozier than usual.

"What are we going to do?" Louis questioned helplessly.

"We'll have no choice but to stay put until the fog clears up," Shira replied. "If we wander more, chances are that things will get worse than they already are. So no walking any more distances for now. That means you, Granny."

"Bah!" Granny, who was just about to walk off absent-mindedly, waved her paw dismissively, but did not disobey.

* * *

"So thirsty…" Sid croaked.

Manny gave him a look. "Easy there. Remember the last time you were desperate for water?"

"How should've I known that seawater was so _salty_?!" Sid defended himself.

Manny was clearly not impressed. "Everyone knows that."

Sid ignored him. "Oh, I want to quench my thirst so badly now, I could drink my own pee!"

"Ugh, Sid, a little word of advice: only say something like that when no one else is around," Manny said disgustedly.

* * *

"I think the fog's starting to clear a bit," Ellie said optimistically.

Crash and Eddie groaned. "You've been saying that for the past hour!"

"Well, true…but I mean it this time! I can actually see you guys now!"

The possums looked at each other for proof, and gasped when they could indeed make each other out clearly.

"Oh my gosh, I missed seeing you, brother!"

"Me too!"

Both of them hugged tearfully. Ellie rolled her eyes at her brothers' silliness and turned to Peaches. "At this rate, we'll be able to find the others more quickly and find a way to go-"

She stopped short when she saw her daughter staring in horror at something behind her. Even the possums, who had pulled themselves together, were wide-eyed.

Ellie knew that whatever the other three were looking at, it couldn't be good. She took a deep breath, prepared herself for the worst, and looked over her own shoulder, meeting face-to-face with a hideous-looking head. Biting back a scream, she stumbled backwards. This face was the face of another mammoth, missing an eye and a few patches of fur. It had many scars all over, and its tusks were severely chipped. Its one good eye was pure red and dilated, showing signs of insanity. Ellie couldn't tell if it was a male or a female.

It suddenly gave a long shrilling scream, and lunged at Peaches. Nobody expected this, and only reacted a few seconds after. Ellie tore the freaky mammal off of her daughter with her tusks, only to have it turn on her, attaching its deformed trunk onto her head and begin sucking. In protest, Ellie tried to saw at it with her trunk, but to no avail. Peaches tried to help by pulling at the monster, while Crash and Eddie let out battle cries and started crawling all over the monster's body to make it feel twitchy. Slowly but surely, it lost its grip and scurried off, most likely to find a new victim that was less resistant.

"Mom! Are you okay?!" Peaches frantically cried.

Ellie, slightly dizzy, rubbed her head. "Generally speaking, yes. But what _was _that? When it attached itself to my head, it felt like it was sucking out my energy. I almost couldn't think anymore."

Sucking out energy? Couldn't think? When Crash and Eddie looked at each other, they could tell that they were both thinking the same thing. They spoke in unison, "That musta been a zombie."

And probably for the first time in their lives, they were being serious.

* * *

Shira had found herself more tired than she thought, and decided to take a nap to keep herself occupied during the time waiting for the fog to pass. She had actually fallen asleep for who-knows-how-long until Louis woke her.

"Miss Shira! Shira!"

Shira opened her eyes and yawned. "What is it?" she asked groggily.

Louis pointed. "The fog's gone."

Shira looked around, remembering the predicament they were in, which she had secretly hoped was a dream. But clearly it wasn't. She sighed. "Alright, let's get going."

The three made their way strolling across the land, thankfully without walking in full circles anymore. On their way, they noticed that they weren't the only ones stuck there. There were many other animals, though for some reason, they all looked physically damaged, ranging from having merely a few scratches to missing an entire leg. And all of them had bloodshot red eyes that appeared to be capable of burning a hole through you.

After walking for a while, Shira smelled a scent that made her stop in her tracks. She had sensed it for a while now, but had dismissed it as her imagination. She sniffed again to make sure she wasn't mistaken. Louis and Granny had stopped too, wondering why their friend was suddenly so alert. Shira didn't say anything, simply turning around and flinging herself at the animal that was apparently following them. The pursuer let out a surprised grunt, and looked up at his tackler. And that was the moment Shira found herself staring into the eyes of another saber-toothed tiger.

**I…really don't think I need to say who this other tiger is. :L**

**I'm actually quite proud of this chapter. It turned out way better than I thought it would, almost to the point where I can't believe that I'm the writer of it…**

**Leave a review if you'd like!**


	3. Diego

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

Louis was terrified. There was an unknown saber who had been following them, probably even before they had gotten lost in the fog. He was sudden grateful that Shira was there.

Shira glared down at the tiger, who stared back with an unreadable, stony expression. "Who are you, and what do you want with us?!" she demanded.

The tiger pushed her off of him. "Who _wouldn't _want anything to do with you three?" he countered. You guys aren't the typical trio people see around here… I mean, a sloth, a molehog, and a saber?"

"Don't make judgments!" Granny yelled, having sensed an offensive tone. "I'll have Shira tear into your skin!"

The tiger raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so that's your name."

Shira imitated him, raising an eyebrow herself. "Yeah? And?"

"You looked more like a Becky to me," the tiger shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe a Debbie…or a Kitty."

Shira growled and pounced on him again. "**Don't **call me Kitty."

The tiger gave a slight smirk. "Okay. I won't…" he flipped them over so he was on top and she was at the bottom. "…Kitty." His smirk grew, much to Shira's annoyance.

"If they kiss, I'm gonna puke!" Granny proclaimed loudly, while Louis tried to conceal a smile. Shira's eyes widened. She just _met _him! And besides, he was a freak.

"W-What?" the tiger stuttered, smugness completely gone, now replaced with extreme bewilderment. "N-No! Uh, no."

Luckily for Shira, he got off of her, and Louis stepped in at that moment.

"So, um…we're not from here… Do you know where we are?"

The tiger squinted at him, causing him to squirm uncomfortably under his gaze, noticing that his eyes were the same color as everyone else they had seen, and they appeared to be trying to burn a hole through him. And believe it or not, he was sure that it would be very successful if it was possible.

"You guys are alive," the tiger spoke at last. "Guess that explains why you look so healthy."

* * *

Ellie blinked. A _zombie_? She normally would've accused and berated the possums for having wild imaginations, but noticing the serious expressions they had, she had a gut feeling that they weren't just trying to throw a scare into her and Peaches.

Her daughter beat her to asking. "How is that possible? Zombies aren't real…"

"Well no one normal would suck someone's brains out, would they?" Crash retorted.

Eddie nodded. "We've done enough zombie research to know what zombies look and act like."

Ellie ignored the temptation to ask them how they managed to find that out. "Are you guys sure?" she asked, not out of skepticism or disbelief, but out of reassurance that none of this was some crazy dream.

"Have we ever lied to you?" Eddie asked rhetorically. If the situation wasn't so serious, both Ellie and Peaches would have laughed at that.

"Let's just keep walking," Ellie decided, changing the subject. "We shouldn't waste time discussing this when we can be searching for the others. We aren't the only ones down here, so we have to be careful. We don't want to risk being attacked again."

* * *

It took a moment for the tiger's words to register, and it took another to make sure that they hadn't heard wrong. Even Granny was silent.

"What are you saying?" Shira asked very quietly at last. "What do you mean when you say we're alive?"

"It's exactly what it means. You're stuck in the zombie wastelands. As in this place is full of zombies. The living dead."

Only then Shira seemed to soak in the tiger's physical appearance. His eyes were blood red, his left ear was worn as if something had chewed it, and on top of that, he was missing his right saber tooth. His fur was a very pale peach color, most likely faded, prompting Shira to assume that it used to be a rich, tawny gold. Definitely not the most pleasant thing to look at, but way better compared to all the other zombies lurking around. Apparently, Granny was having similar thoughts.

"Ya know, ya ain't a beauty, but all those other guys are way _uglier_! There was one that had this misplaced jaw and another that-" Her rants were muffled by Louis, who had put a paw over her mouth.

"What's up with her?" the tiger asked, not sure of what to make of the elderly sloth's boldness.

"Ignore her. She's always like that," Shira said indifferently.

"Reminds me of someone I used to know…" the tiger mused before asking, "So what, you guys need to find a way back home?"

"We're trying to find our friends first," Louis spoke up, uncovering Granny's mouth. "We somehow got separated when we got here. Have you, by any chance, seen them? There are three mammoths: Manny, Ellie, and their daughter Peaches; her grandson" – he pointed to Granny – "named Sid; and two possums, Crash and Eddie."

The tiger, who had been casually listening at first, perked up momentarily once he heard Louis say Manny's name, but resumed an emotionless face almost immediately. Shira was the only one who took notice, causing her to wonder what he was thinking.

"Nope, haven't seen any of them. But I can help you find them," the tiger offered.

Shira narrowed her eyes. "What's the catch?"

"What?" the tiger asked, confused.

"Why are you suddenly lending us a favor? That's pretty fishy, if you ask me. Especially since most of the animals in our herd are typical prey for our species."

"You know, just because I'm a saber doesn't mean I do everything in order to sink my teeth into anything edible," the tiger sighed, annoyed. "You out of everyone else should know that, considering that you're the one traveling with them in the first place."

Shira chose to ignore that. "That doesn't explain why you want to help us."

"I'm just in a helpful mood, alright? You clearly don't know your way down here, and you'll probably need someone actually familiar with these surroundings. Look, I don't really care if you accept or decline, but I suggest you accept, 'cause then you'll actually be making progress in what you're trying to do instead of going back to square one. Now hurry up and decide before I change my mind."

Shira scowled, knowing that he had a point. She turned toward Louis and Granny, who both shrugged. She turned back to the tiger. "Alright, we accept. But don't try and pull anything."

The tiger rolled his eyes. "Got nothing to pull anyway. Been meaning to ask for a while, but how'd you guys end up here?"

The other three told them their story, and he blinked. "That's not natural," he finally said.

"Yeah, we caught onto that a while ago," Shira said sarcastically. "Now are you going to help us or not?"

"Right, you're welcome," the tiger answered, joining in on the sarcasm. He then sniffed the air, with Shira secretly wondering if he still had a sense of smell even when he was counted to be dead. He then gestured toward the northeast, "I smell something alive a few miles away. C'mon, let's go."

He started walking, with the three herd members in tow. Shira was still in doubt if this tiger could be trusted, but suddenly realized something. "Hey, we never got your name," she called to up front.

The tiger stopped to look back at her, causing her and her friends to stop as well. "Diego. It's Diego."

With that said, they continued on their journey, with the mysterious tiger, now known as Diego, in the lead.

**Just in case anyone is wondering, Shira will explain in a later chapter (not sure which one yet) why she can't just sniff out her friends' scent herself in the zombie world, and Diego has to be the one to do it. It's not a very complicated reason, so I give bonus points to whoever can guess why correctly in their reviews. :D**

**More bonus points to whoever can guess who Diego was talking about: "Reminds me of someone I used to know…"**

**No Manny and Sid in this chapter, but the next chapter will start off with them. ;)**

**Leave a review! They make my day. :D**


	4. Travel With The Unicorns

**Just to let everyone know, there's going to be a certain amount of parallelism in this fanfic, meaning that there are going to be some things that are somewhat similar to events that happened in the movies.**

**Also, the Manny and Sid subplot will be the source of comic relief, because I can't write a story without adding a bit of funniness to it.**

Manny did not know how long he and Sid had been walking, and a part of him didn't want to know. He felt that it was best if he never found out how long he had been enduring the sloth's complaints.

"This is worse than the time the world was ending!" Sid was saying. "At least I was surrounded by water that time! There's no water here at all! _Nada_! Zilch! I feel like I'm gonna die of thirst! How can-"

"**Alright, you're thirsty, I get it!**" Manny exploded. And then, in a calmer tone, he added, "We really need to hurry and find everyone else. This place is unlivable."

"Which is exactly my point when I say there's no water here," Sid retorted. "And it's just the two of us – WATER!" he suddenly yelled out when something caught his eye, and raced for it.

"Water?" Manny questioned. He had followed Sid's line of sight, which led to a gooey, green-looking substance. "Uh, I don't think that's water, Sid."

"Why would you say that?" Sid asked happily, clearly not paying that much attention.

"Who would I – just _look _at it!"

"Looks like pure, crystal-clear water to me!" This statement resulted in Manny wondering if his friend's utter desire to quench his thirst had temporarily clogged his brain waves.

"You don't even know if that's safe to drink or not! Be-"

Sid took a giant gulp.

"…careful."

Sid wiped his mouth with satisfaction. "That was good stuff! Come on, Manny, I know you're thirsty-" He stopped short, a vacant expression dominating his face.

"Um…Sid?" Manny hesitantly asked, waving his trunk in front of the sloth's eyes. "You still there?"

Sid grabbed Manny's trunk and started jumping up and down hyperactively. "OMG U HAV NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WUD LUV 2 SING RITE NOW~ LALALA~"

Manny yanked his trunk free and quickly put Sid on his back before sighing, further convinced that the slimy substance was poisonous. "You really can't do anything right, can you?"

"I WANT TO GO TRAVEL W/ THE UNICORNS 2 LALALAND~"

* * *

"So…" Louis began awkwardly, trying to start a conversation. "How's life?"

Diego shot him an icy look.

"Oh, right, you're dead. You're not alive. My mistake," Louis chuckled nervously. "I meant, how's the undead?"

Diego shrugged before turning back to face forward. "Eh. Boring."

Shira rolled her eyes at his lack of sportsmanship and social skills. There had been a stone wall between the two of them ever since when he had stopped to sniff some more. Shira, wanting to leave as soon as possible, had asked him if he really knew where he was going. He had taken this the wrong way, and had answered by saying that she knew even less than he did. It ended up with an argument, while Granny and Louis watched. Granny simply ranted on about how young love was so melodramatic while Louis couldn't help but think that the words that the two tigers were flinging at each other were very disturbing. It had abruptly finished when Diego remembered their objective, and he had concluded his side of the dispute by announcing, "I don't want this to turn physical, since I'm not one to fight girls." Shira reaffirmed her assumptions. He _definitely _was a freak.

While she was thinking this, Granny asked Diego, who had stopped again, "So how'd you die?"

Louis sighed disapprovingly.

Despite the significance of it, she was oblivious to the fact that she had hit a sensitive spot. Even Shira, who was still absorbed inside her own thoughts, had broken out of them once she saw Diego stiffen. The latter seemed to be fumbling for words, eventually settling with the lame response of, "I protected my dinner."

Shira raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"We're getting closer," he announced, hurriedly changing the subject, and dashed off forward.

Louis and Granny both forgot about his edginess and did their best to catch up with him (which utterly failed). Shira was the only one who wasn't distracted, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Diego's retreating figure. First his alert reaction to Louis's description of the herd, and now this? She felt as if both ends tied together. She was _so _bombarding him with questions later on. But for now, she gestured toward Louis and Granny and then to her back. Both gladly accepted the ride, and she took off after Diego.

* * *

"This land is _huge_! How are we ever going to get out of his place?! Crash complained.

"We'll at least have a bigger chance of surviving if we keep on pushing forward, instead of sitting around doing nothing," Ellie said firmly.

"But we've been going on for hours! Can't we take a break?!" Eddie whined.

Ellie contemplated this, feeling herself growing weary. The last thing she wanted to do was push her daughter and brothers too hard (especially her brothers; Peaches seemed to be just fine, which was ironic since the possums weren't even walking), so she complied. The possums happily slid off of Peaches' back and kissed the ground. Ellie took some time to settle into a comfortable position, and her daughter did the same.

"This herd gets into a lot of mishaps, doesn't it?" the older mammoth remarked with a small smile.

Peaches nodded. "The world ending was bad enough, but it's even worse when you don't even know where you are."

"HEY!" a distant voice called out.

The foursome's heads shot up at the familiar-sounding voice. They all saw Shira, with Louis and Granny on her back, running towards them, with an unknown male tiger directly in front of her.

Crash and Eddie jumped up excitedly. "FINALLY!"

When the two tigers approached the two mammoths and two possums, they skidded to a stop. Crash was ranting, "We finally found each other! I actually missed you three – …and who's that?"

"Diego," the tiger replied curtly.

The possums looked at each other and simultaneously smirked at Shira. "Got yourself involved, eh?"

"Just because he's a male saber does not mean that he's the love of my life," Shira said irritably, clearly not too pleased with the idea.

"Sure, whatever you – GAH!" Eddie yelped when Diego flicked him into Crash, both ending up knocking over Louis.

Shira smiled wryly. "Thank you."

"You have bad taste in men, Shira! He's too violent for your own good!" Crash yelled from the background.

Ellie stepped forward. "Sorry about those two. I'm Ellie, and they're my brothers, Crash and Eddie." Noticing Diego's bemused look, she added, "Adoption." Diego nodded in understanding. "And this is my daughter, Peaches." Peaches gave a brief wave.

"You have your father's eyes," Diego said without thinking. His eyes widened. "Oh, shi-"

Peaches shot him a curious glance. "Do you know Dad?"

"Uh, yeah. Used to know him, but only saw him for a few days. We weren't that close."

Nobody pressed on, sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere.

Shira shot him another suspicious glance, which Ellie noticed. She inwardly smirked. Despite Shira's obvious discomfort with the implication of becoming Diego's mate, she could sense that sparks were going to be flying around everywhere in the near future.


	5. Meeting Howie

**Updating this again. And since zombies happen to be dead, I just feel like I have to put this:**

**R.I.P. to my mom's friend. May 13, 1959 – November 6, 2012**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

"Zombie land?" Ellie reiterated, shocked. "So that means you're a…"

"Zombie?" Diego finished for her. "Yeah."

"And you're not gonna suck our brains out? Awesome! Then we can perform zombie experiments, right Eddie?"

"You said it!"

The possums both grinned, but their expressions soon changed to pure fear, as the zombie tiger threatened, "Anyone who touches me **DIES**."

Crash and Eddie cowered behind Ellie and Peaches.

"Eh?! But didn't Shira touch ya all over already?!" Granny shouted.

Shira mentally slapped her forehead at Granny's extreme ability to make everything sound wrong.

"She tackled me full-force to the ground. It's not like I was expecting that."

"But all ya did was flirt with her! An' ya almost kissed too! You're lucky I stopped ya!"

Shira had realized that the others must be finding this banter quite…odd and implying, so she butted in. "Okay, you two, shut up now, " she spoke up, then turned to Diego. "Now, can you sniff out Manny and Sid?"

"I can, and I would…but Sid's scent makes my eyes burn…" This remark caused many annoyed glares to be shot in his direction, which he promptly ignored. "And besides, don't you guys want to rest up for the day?"

He sighed impatiently when he noticed that he was receiving blank stares. "It's nighttime now."

"I guess you can only know that if you're a zombie," Ellie commented, looking up at the unchanging grey sky.

Diego nodded. "It's kinda like that whole issue with colorblindness."

Shira shrugged. "Then I guess we'll have to camp out here for the night."

"Hey Sid, mind making a fire?" Eddie called out, but soon realized his mistake. "Oh, right…"

Crash laughed. "Idiot!"

Eddie glared daggers at him. "Shut up!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!"

"Well I just did!"

Crash slapped Eddie, causing Eddie to slap him back. This is resulted in another one of their infamous slap fights.

"Do they…always do this or somethin'?" Diego asked, staring at the possums' supreme idiocy.

"At least twice a day," Louis responded. "Trust me, as their niece's best friend, I've had a lot of experience with those two."

* * *

"Okay, I think my mind's finally starting to clear from that gooey stuff," Sid said, rubbing his head.

"Good, 'cause I think I'll never be able to live it down. You said some pretty embarrassing things back there, and let's just say that I saw a few guys laughing at us."

Sid stared at his friend in horror. "W-What did I say?"

"Stuff along the lines of, 'My mom used to like to scrub my tree branch with my butt and possum dung," Manny informed flatly.

Sid blinked. "That is so not true! She didn't use possum dung; she used Uncle Fungus's fleas!"

"…"

"Uh, Manny?"

"…I don't want to hear anymore about your crazy uncle. Let's just hurry up and find them, 'cause I am not putting up with all of your disgusting truths."

"Find who?"

Sid jumped at the new voice, and although Manny remained still, he was internally equally surprised. Another mammoth suddenly appeared out of nowhere. His physical condition was no better than the other strangers walking away, having missing patches of fur and chipped tusks. On top of that, he was missing an eye and had many scars running through his body.

He noticed Sid's shock at his sudden entrance into the conversation, and grew frantic. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" he apologized profusely. "I didn't mean to scare you! Ugh, I'm such a moron! Moron…" He shook his head while mentally reprimanding himself.

"Uh, it's cool," Manny said at last after some hesitation. "Don't back your brains out over it."

"Ugh, I'm sorry, I freak out over the simplest things. I've been like that since I was a kid; I was always so socially awkward. My name's Howie, by the way," he added, doing his best to be civil.

Sid, having recovered, replied, "I'm Sid, and this is Manny. So don't you have any friends?"

"No," Howie shook his head sadly. "I'm younger than I look, and there aren't many people my age down here. The only one who actually talks to me is my uncle Dee-Dee."

"Uncle Dee-Dee?" Manny and Sid questioned in unison, exchanging looks with one another.

Howie looked down, embarrassed. "That's not his real name or anything. It's just a nickname I gave him as we grew close," he muttered.

Sid nodded. "I totally get that. My uncle Fungus's real name is actually Frank, but since he never bathed before in his life, he earned the nickname Fun-"

"Sid," Manny spoke in a warning tone. "Just be quiet." He turned toward the other mammoth. "Before I forget to ask, where are we?"

"You won't believe me if I tell you," Howie said skeptically, having already caught on that the other two had no clue of their whereabouts.

"It'll still be an answer. Just spit it out, and I'll decide whether to believe you or not."

* * *

"GET BACK HERE, YOU MISCREANTS!"

Crash and Eddie snickered, as they scurried away from the angry tiger. "Miscreants?! Bahaha!"

It hadn't taken long for the two of them to stop fighting and realize that Diego was oblivious to their pranking reputations, making him the perfect victim. They had whipped out their spitball shooters and shot him when he wasn't facing them (right in the rear too), and let's just say that the zombie did not take this too kindly.

The rest of the group had lay down and fallen asleep, though all of them (other than Granny, who was unsurprisingly a heavy sleeper) had been startled awake by Diego's yell.

"I have yet to meet one person who you guys haven't pranked before," Ellie said exasperatedly.

* * *

Sid fainted, whilst Manny stared. "So let me get this straight… We're stuck in some kind of Zombie-topia?"

Howie nodded. "I know it's pretty unbelievable, but I'm honestly telling the truth."

"Never said I thought you were lying. I guess it's safe to believe you, since you don't seem like the insane type."

Sid sat up, suddenly awake again and started panicking. "WE'RE GONNA DIE HERE!"

"No, we're not," Manny said, a determined look crossing his face. "We're going to find the herd and get back to the island, no matter what." Then he asked Howie, "Can you zombies track down the alive?"

"I'm a mammoth. A dead mammoth, but still a mammoth," said Howie. "Mammoths can't track. But Uncle Dee-Dee can."

"And I suppose this 'Uncle Dee-Dee' isn't a mammoth then?" Manny guessed, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… No. So we're not related by blood or anything…"

"What kind of animal is he?"

"A saber. He's not like the typical saber though. He won't sink his teeth into you or anything like that."

"Do you think he'd like to play Ring-Around-A-Rosie?" Sid asked excitedly. Manny wasn't even going to question it.

"Uh, no. His personality is the polar opposite of yours, as a matter of fact. He's sarcastic, hot-tempered, and doesn't trust easily. But once you penetrate that tough shell of his, he really is a fun guy to be around."

Manny shrugged. "If you say so. Do you know where he is now?"

"Uh, no," Howie grinned sheepishly. "But I could ask around. He's pretty well-known around her because of his death."

"What makes the way he died so special?" Sid asked curiously.

"He sacrificed his life to save a pair of herbivores from his pack." Howie snickered. "His conscience is much bigger that you'd think at first."

Manny's eyes widened. He could remember it clearly…

_The group of sabers growled at him, though he successfully fended them off. However, the pack leader had somehow snuck up to him, and prepared to lunge. The mammoth turned around just in time to see another saber take the blow for him, and fall into the snow, with blood from his shoulder seeping into the white snow…_

Manny looked over at Sid, who didn't seem fazed at all, and was carrying on a friendly conversation with Howie.

He shook himself out of his daze. "Come on, you two. We have something we need to do here."

"Fine, Mr. Killjoy," Sid pouted.

Howie couldn't help but laugh.

**Before I forget, I want to clear this up: This is set in an AU (alternate universe), where Diego died in the first movie. So everyone except for Manny and Sid have no idea of his existence.**

**I'm pretty sure all of you caught on, but there are going to be a lot of Diego quote references from the movie.**

**And screw what I said about Manny and Sid being comic relief, 'cause I changed my mind. I only thought up this idea about Howie a week ago, and…yeah.**

**Please review!**


	6. Tanner Joins In

**Introducing another OC this chapter! And you know what's weird? I didn't come up with him until this afternoon. XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

"Are we getting any closer?" Crash whined.

Diego gave him the evil eye, so he quickly shut up, because the tiger happened to be launched into a terrible mood. Ellie and Shira had forced him into sniffing out Sid's (and Manny's) scent in the end, saying that he didn't smell _that _bad. And guess what? They were right; it wasn't that bad... It was worse.

Hoping to lighten up Diego's mood by distracting him, Peaches asked him, "So how was life back when you weren't, um...down here?"

"Normal saber life. Pack of ten. Half were slaughtered by humans though, so there were only five of us left," Diego replied, expression unchanging, not even looking back.

Louis, who was eavesdropping, had his curiosity genuinely piqued. "What were your pack mates like?"

"There was this scrawny guy called Zeke, and he was pretty jittery, and was always the first to maul something. Then there's Lenny. Nothing special about him, except for the fact that he was fat and had like seven chins. And there's one named Oscar, who was a complete asshole to me."

"Not something very nice to say about your own former pack mate," Shira remarked.

"Just because the two of us were in the same pack does not mean that we actually liked each other. 'Cause we were far from being friendly. We only put up with each other because we had to. I probably wouldn't have hated him so much if he wasn't such a...an asshole."

"Can't you call him anything else but that? Something more appropriate?" Ellie asked disapprovingly.

"Nope. To be honest, I can think about 20 words to describe him, and 'asshole' is the most 'appropriate' one out of all of them," Diego said flatly.

"Never mind then," Ellie mumbled.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You said there were five members of your pack. You only talked about three. Including you makes it four," Shira pointed out. "So who's the fifth?"

Diego stopped walking. "Our leader, Soto," he bit out in a venomous tone.

Shira didn't show it, but she was taken aback by his forced answer. In the short time she had known him, he always seemed so indifferent to everything, not to mention a little suspicious. He never seemed to have the ability to actually be seriously angry, other than be a little (more like very) put out by the possums' antics. But hey, the possums can manage to annoy the most patient being on Earth.

She had noticed three long slashes, running down from Diego's shoulder all the way to his lower arm, when they had stopped for the night, which for some reason, had unusually stood out. Now that he was talking about his pack leader, he had unconsciously touched those scars with his other paw. As always, Shira was the only one who saw this, or at least, the only one who actually regarded it.

"He had this grudge against humans, even before they had wiped out those five sabers. Getting back at them was the only thing he cared about," Diego was saying.

It was clear to everyone else that there was more to what he was really letting on. "And? What happened?" Eddie asked impatiently.

"That's all you're getting from me right now. Aren't we supposed to be looking for Manny and Sid?" Diego snapped.

"You were the one who quit walking," Shira countered, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever, I'm getting sick of trying to sniff Sid out. My nose feels like it's about to fall off," Diego vented grouchily. "We aren't the only ones down here, so let's just ask around. I don't know about you, but I don't think it's that hard for zombies to spot a mammoth and sloth who are both alive and well."

Peaches seemed to regret asking about Diego's former life, as it seemed to knock him down even more on the mood scale. So naturally, trying not to mess up again, she was the first to consent. "O-Okay, then, let's ask."

Diego didn't respond, mainly because a zombie dire wolf who just so happened to be passing by had caught his attention. He called out, "Hey, Wolfie!"

The wolf pretended not to hear him and continued walking.

"_Wolfie_!" Diego shouted, slightly louder this time.

Same reaction, or lack thereof, occurred.

Diego grumbled under his breath, "For the love of – TANNER! I KNOW YOU'RE NOT DEAF, SO SIT YOUR BUTT DOWN AND TURN AROUND ALREADY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, patience obviously worn thin.

The wolf finally turned around, smirking. "Yeah, Pussycat?"

Diego growled. "Shut it. Anyway, I need your help."

Tanner rolled his eyes. "I don't have all day. Just spit out what you need."

"I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a 'Sure, I'll do it.' Can you sniff around for me and tell me if you sense anything alive?"

"Sure I can, but why?"

"You're not deaf, and you're certainly not blind. Do you not notice a bunch of living freaks behind me?" Diego muttered.

"Sorry to damage that sad ego of yours, but you're not exactly normal either," Shira said, annoyed.

Tanner eyed her for a second, before turning to Diego. "New girlfriend?"

"I seriously don't get why everyone keeps saying that," was Diego's reply.

Shira was secretly glad that he didn't enjoy that romantic aspect either. Not that she'll say that out loud.

"Sure, whatever you say. So what, you just want me to smell something?" Tanner raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, pretty much," Diego shrugged.

"Uh... Sure, I can do that." The wolf began sniffing the air.

"Can you detect anything? Something that smells like a rotten apple that someone barfed on and then got pelted with possum dung?"

Eddie reached behind his back and sniffed his rear, trying to see if it really was as stinky as Diego's implication.

Tanner suddenly started coughing. "Oh yeah, I smell it. I smell it _bad_. It's that way," he pointed forward. "You were heading in the right direction already. You happy now?"

"Not exactly..." Diego said casually, examining a claw. "We'll need you to keep track of them, in case they change direction. That mammoth and sloth we're trying to find know how to move around, you know."

"Oh great," Tanner grumbled. "Remind me to never do any favors for you ever again."

Diego rolled his eyes. "No more favors shall be necessary. Now help us."

"I seriously don't get why you can't get Howie to do it. I mean, he may not know how to track, but he knows his way around here."

"Oh yeah, like I'm going to put him through that much trouble," Diego scoffed. "Besides, I don't know where he is right now. I only got you to help just because you were passing by."

"I so shouldn't have decided to take the shortcut to the other side of the plains," Tanner muttered under his breath.

"Hey, back up here, ladies! Who's Howie?!" Granny butted in.

"This mammoth kid we know. Don't worry about him," Diego explained, before realizing something. "Wait a sec..."

"She just called us girls," Tanner said with a stony face. "I don't even know her, but I have a hunch that she genuinely doesn't know that we're guys."

"And I have a hunch that your hunch is right," Diego said begrudgingly. "Changing the subject now; you ought to walk ahead. Trackers always scout out front and center."

"Yeah, of course _you _would know that, considering that you're making me do this just because you don't want to," Tanner shot at him, but walked up ahead anyway.

"You always seemed like the loner type to me. I never expected you to have friends down here," Shira remarked once the wolf was out of hearing range.

"He isn't my friend; just an acquaintance. Heck, not even an acquaintance; more like two carnivores who only know each other because most of the zombies down here are unsurprisingly herbivores who fell prey to the hunters. Now come on, I don't want to give him the chance to ditch us while we're talking. Let's go."

**Yup, I know I said this already, but new OC. And Diego uses some minor language here... Probably should've told you that at the beginning of the chapter, haha.**

**Review because I enjoy them!** **:)**


	7. Fertile Predators

"So what kind of name is Howie? It sounds weird."

"Sid..." Manny whispered through clenched teeth. "Shut up."

If Howie was offended, he certainly did not show it. "Howie's not my real name. My real name is actually Howard, but Uncle Dee-Dee gave me the name Howie, and it sort of just stuck."

"So you guys nicknamed each other?" Manny asked.

"Kinda, yeah."

Sid made a disgusted noise. "Howard? That's just about as bad as Manfred." This comment earned him a hit upside the head.

"What part of 'Shut your mouth' do you not understand?" Manny asked angrily.

"Mannyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Sid whined.

Howie chuckled. "You guys are funny. I could stand here all day watching your banter."

"But sadly, we don't have all day. Let's just find our herd without any huge distractions," Manny said.

Sid turned to Howie. "I told you he's a killjoy."

"I thought fat guys were supposed to be the happiest out of all their friends," Howie remarked, confused.

Manny groaned. "I'm not fat! The fur just makes me poofy!"

"Then if I shave you, you would be skinny?" Howie questioned innocently.

The older mammoth rolled his eyes. "Don't even think about it. You youngsters think up the craziest ideas."

"Aw, fine," Howie sighed, disappointed. He then walked forward and asked a random zombie gazelle passing by. "Excuse me, but have you seen a living group of animals walking by? Or at least a zombie saber?"

"I saw a saber earlier going by in that direction," the gazelle replied, pointing to her left. "I'm not sure if he's the one you're looking for though."

"Oh, well thanks anyway. It's a start, at least." Howie went back to Manny and Sid. "There aren't many sabers down here, so there's a good chance that the saber was Uncle Dee-Dee. Come on now." He started walking in the direction the gazelle pointed to.

Sid looked over at Manny. "He's pretty innocent."

"Yeah," Manny eyed Sid, raising an eyebrow. "As innocent as you."

Sid frowned. "Hey! Even I wouldn't ask if I could shave your fur! Hey Howie, wait up!" Sid chased after the zombie.

A small nostalgic smile threatened to show itself, but Manny managed to force it back down. He shook his head. _What am I thinking? Howie's just another mammoth. It's probably just a coincidence._

"Manny!" Sid shouted from up ahead. "Hurry up!"

Manny inwardly rolled his eyes and followed.

* * *

Diego frowned. Something was off, and he was almost sure it wasn't just him; the atmosphere had been oddly quiet for a while now. He called to Tanner, telling him to stop (The wolf gladly conceded; he had wanted to take a break for a while already), and turned to face the herd, who were all confused to why Diego suddenly seemed so on edge. The tiger quickly scanned through the group, and realized the problem he had sensed. He looked around, and when he couldn't find what – or who – he was looking for, his suspicions became confirmed.

The herd, plus Tanner, were informed of the tiger's instinctive worries when the latter uttered darkly, and quite scarily, "Where. Are. Those. Two. Idiot. Possums?"

* * *

"This was your fault!"

"Nuh uh! It was yours!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"ARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Crash lunged for Eddie, and they rolled around on the ground for a while until they decided to stop, having lost their breath. They'd resume fighting once they found everyone else. But for now, they had bigger problems on their hands._ They were lost_.

It had all started when the two of them had gotten into another slap fight (for a reason that neither of them could remember), and Diego, who had decided that he found whatever they did to be annoying, had threatened to break their "weak spines" if they fought in front of him again. So there they sat on their niece's back, pouting and avoiding eye contact with each other. They told their sister that they were bored as heck, but the latter merely shrugged and told them to just bear with it. With nothing better to do, they started a poke fight. The innocent pokes eventually became gentle slaps and the gentle slaps eventually became rough shoves. Eddie accidentally shoved too hard at one point, and Crash fell off of Peaches. However, he wasn't about to go down alone, so he grabbed Eddie by the waist with his tail and pulled his brother down along with him. Both of them fell headfirst and got knocked unconscious. And when they woke up, they were all alone with nobody nearby that they knew. Naturally, they started bickering on whose fault it was, and, well, you know the rest.

"We could just go around and ask these zombie guys if they've seen the others," Eddie suggested.

Crash scoffed in return. "Yeah, like that's gonna get us very far."

"At least I'm trying to come up with ideas!"

"I know you're trying to pick a fight with me, and it's working really well!"

"Oh yeah?!" Eddie shoved Crash.

Crash shoved him back. "Yeah!"

A shove fight would've ensued once again if Eddie didn't notice something nearby. "Hey! It's a plant! And I thought this place was lifeless!"

The apparent plant was a strange one; contrasting the bright colors of every flower and tree, this plant had a shade of a disgustingly dark purple with wilted leaves. It had two petals that were attached to each other, and were shaped like an open mouth. yes, this is the infamous Venus flytrap. Clearly not having considered if it was a wise decision to make, Eddie scurried over to the plant and poked it. The plant responded by reaching down and plucked the possum right up with its mouth and clamped it shut.

Crash, having witnessed the whole ordeal, panicked and rushed over to the flytrap. "Eddie! Can you hear me, brother?!" he asked frantically, obviously forgetting their altercation 30 seconds ago.

No answer from Eddie could be heard, either because he was passed out, the plant prevented any sounds from the inside, or he just didn't hear Eddie. Lacking the knowledge on what should be done, Crash did the only thing he could think of doing. He grabbed Eddie's tail, which was sticking out of the flytrap's mouth, and pulled as hard as he could. He could've sworn he heard his brother's pained scream from inside the plant.

"Let go, you...you stupid plant!" Crash panted exhaustedly. The flytrap had a strong grip. Things didn't look too good until a grey paw suddenly pushed Crash out of the way, grabbed Eddie's tail and, with a strong yank, pulled him free from the plant's digestive juices.

"Where were you guys?! Can't anyone go one day without worrying about you two?!" Shira sighed frustratedly, glaring at the slimy Eddie and the extremely relieved Crash.

"Shira! Oh my god, thank whoever's up there you're here! I thought Eddie really would've been digested alive!" Crash couldn't remember the last time he had thanked someone so gratefully in his life.

Shira rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't have been worrying like that if you just stayed put."

"Wh...Where are the others?" Eddie asked, dazed from his narrow escape from certain death.

"I told them that I would look for you guys and that if anything big happened, I would report back to them. So they're waiting for us back at the place where we found out you guys were missing. You ought to thank Diego; he was the first one who noticed that you guys were gone."

Crash smirked. "Yeah. Of course you would say it was him," he said suggestively, back to his normal self.

Shira gave a small glare. "I'm only saying that because it's true. Let's just hurry up and go back. Ellie is worried sick and Peaches is feeling extremely guilty for not noticing that you guys got off her back at some point." She was about to take a step forward when a much bigger plant (which _wasn't _a Venus flytrap this time), equipped with vines, emerged from the ground, used one of its vines to grab Shira by the leg, hoisted her up into the air, and swallowed her whole. All of this happened in just a second, and for a moment, Crash and Eddie stood there, blinking dumbly. Only when a muffled voice from inside the plant cry out, "GET THE OTHERS!" did they hurry off to get help.

* * *

Ellie was pacing nervously. What could be taking Shira so long?

Peaches was finding the ground much more interesting than usual, and lowered her eyes to hide her tears of guilt, causing Louis to constantly look over to her with concern in his eyes.

Diego looked around, not used to being caught in such an uncomfortable air. He glanced at Tanner, who shook his head, as if to say, _You're taking care of this. I'm not._

"Guys, this zombie land is dangerous, but it's not as dangerous as you guys think it is. There's a good chance that the possums are okay, and I'm betting that they're heading back with Shira right this moment. And if anything actually did happen, Shira would've came back by now and told us the problem," the tiger said awkwardly, not really having the habit of comforting others.

Ellie stopped pacing, but Peaches didn't look up. "If I was more careful, we wouldn't be in this mess," she said quietly. "I still can't believe that I had no idea that my uncles fell off my back during who-knows-when. I mean, how hard is it to realize that something has fallen off of you?"

"GUYS!"

Peaches' head finally jerked up, wondering if she heard right. She was positive she did, once she saw two small, furry things quickly approach them.

Ellie scooped them up with her trunk and squeezed them into an embrace. "I was so worried! Don't you guys ever wander off alone again!" She quickly let them go though, once she saw that they were choking them.

"Sh...Shira!" Crash wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

Diego's ears shot up. He had wondered why Shira wasn't with Crash and Eddie, but only reassured himself that she was just lagging behind, though that was very unlikely. And it was even more unlikely now that the two possum pranksters were being so frantic, apparently about something involving the female saber. "What about Shira?" he asked, trying to remain calm and keep that nagging feeling of panic down.

"She got swallowed by a gigantic, weird-looking plant!" Eddie explained as fast as he could.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait... What?" Tanner entered the conversation. "A carnivorous plant? Really? Where'd you come up with that?"

"We're not coming up with anything! It's true!" Crash exclaimed desperately. "Come on, I think it's that exact same plant that we ran into in the dinosaur world! Don't you remember that, Ellie?!"

Ellie's eyes widened. Of course she remembered! "Guys, they're telling the truth! We have to act pronto!" She hurried off with the possums in tow.

Ellie's confirmation was more than enough to convince the others (although Tanner was still slightly skeptical) that the possums weren't lying, and ran as fast as they could after Ellie, hoping that they weren't too late in saving Shira.

**You know, I'm proud of this. I don't think I've ever written anything with as many details as this. Yeah, I'm generally a simplistic writer.**

**And also, CLIFFHANGER! You know why? Because about 95% of the stories I read on here (and the other 5% are simply one-shots) have at least one cliffhanger in a chapter. So I'm deciding that this is the perfect chance to do that myself. People said it's fun. And guess what? It is. :D Plus, I'm in an evil mood this week. I actually managed to put a fake love letter in my friend's locker on Friday. Can't get too much evilness ever. =w=**

**Review if you want the next chapter soon!**


	8. Saving Shira

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the scene, with the large plant's petals still clamped shut. Crash and Eddie were doing their best in explaining what happened.

"So I almost got swallowed by that smaller plant over there-"

"And then Shira came-"

"And then Mama Plant came and thought she was bullying its baby or something-"

"So the crazy thing snatched her up-"

"As much as I appreciate you trying to explain what happened, CAN'T YOU TELL THE STORY LATER?! I'M STILL STUCK IN HERE AND THE THING'S ABOUT TO START DIGESTING!" Shira was heard shouting from inside the plant.

"Wait, that thing digests?!" Tanner exclaimed, the depth of the situation finally sinking in.

"Apparently yes," Diego muttered grimly. "Well, at least her screaming at us let us know that she's still alive. Any other precautions we need to take before we take action?"

"If it's really the plant we ran into before, then tearing it up from the roots will close it forever," Ellie piped up.

Diego growled, losing his calm exterior. He obviously was considering the idea of root-tearing before Ellie informed the problem with that. "This plant just loves being difficult, doesn't it?"

"QUIT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PLANT AND HELP ME!" yelled Shira.

"Ugh, fine, Kitty! Tanner, watch these guys and make sure they stick together. All of you better still be here when I get out." He glared at the possums while saying this.

"Wait, 'get out'? Does that mean you're..." Tanner trailed off.

Diego nodded. "I'm going in."

"What?! Are you crazy?! How can you be so sure you'll be able to get out afterwards?! Then both you and Shira are doomed!"

Diego rolled his eyes. "You think I haven't thought of that? But I have to try. The only other choice we have is to sit here and give up. And I'm pretty sure none of us want to do that."

"Why are you the only one going in then?!"

"_Because_ you need to watch these guys, and if I let one of them go in and something goes wrong, I don't know how any of us will manage to explain to Manny and Sid about the loss of two herd members, 'cause one is horrible enough. Now are you just gonna try to stop me by asking a bunch of questions, or do you want Shira out of there before it's too late?"

Realizing their lack of options, Tanner reluctantly motioned for Diego to go, and with a leap, the latter managed to slip right through the small opening located between the petals at the top of the plant.

Tanner glared at the herd. "You heard him. Nobody moves until he comes back out, either with or without Shira. Especially you two-" He looked around and groaned. "Where are the possums this time?"

Eddie suddenly appeared on top of his head, looking down at him right in the eyes. "Crash got swallowed by the tiny plant!" He pointed toward the small Venus flytrap, whose mouth was full once more with a possum inside it. Crash's tail was hanging out from the mouth, making him an exact image of what Eddie looked like when he was inside.

"Okay, no need to panic. I got this." Tanner walked over to the flytrap and managed to pry open the mouth, and Crash fell out. However, right after its victim escaped, the plant, not happy with losing a meal the second time on the same day, immediately clamped down on Tanner's left paw.

* * *

Once Diego was inside the giant plant's stomach, he saw Shira pressed against the side of the petal and the digestive juices about two feet deep already. "You alright?"

"Gee, I'm inside a plant who wants to digest me, so I'd say that I'm doing pretty good," Shira said sarcastically.

"Haha, hilarious. I came here to save you, so you're welcome."

"Then why don't you hurry up and do what you came here for?"

"Right, uh..."

"...Please tell me you came in here with a thoroughly prepared plan on what to do."

"Uh... Do you want the honest answer or the reassuring answer?" Diego went shifty-eyed.

"You don't know how to get us out of here?!" Shira exploded.

"For the record, I wasn't the one who kept on shouting for someone to save me like some panicky damsel-in-distress!"

* * *

Tanner tried to pry the flytrap off again, but to no avail. "I officially hate plants now," he snarled in frustration.

Ellie and Peaches went over and tried the same thing, but the flytrap didn't budge one bit. Tanner lost it at that point.

"YOU STUPID PLANT BETTER LET ME GO OR ELSE I'M GONNA BURN YOU TO THE GROUND THE FIRST CHANCE I GET!"

"I'm not a genius, but I don't think yelling at it is gonna work," Crash intervened.

"What's the big deal anyway? I mean, I know your paw will end up being digested, but don't zombies regenerate limbs or something afterwards?" Eddie questioned.

"Okay... There are two problems wrong with what you just said," Tanner spoke in a strained voice, suddenly having a full understanding of why Diego found these two so annoying. "One, zombies _do not_ regenerate limbs. It's widely believed, but it's completely false. Two, this flytrap isn't going to just digest my paw. Instead, the acid's going to spread up my arm until it engulfs my entire body. So if this thing doesn't come off soon, I'm gonna be** FULLY DISSOLVED**!"

"WHAT?!"

"Let me guess, it's not going to open up if you rip the roots off of it either, am I right?" Ellie grimly asked.

"No, and FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, HURRY THE HELL UP, DIEGO!" Tanner began to freak out. "DON'T YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO GET SHIRA OUT OF THERE?!"

A wave of realization hit Ellie. "I don't think anybody ever told him how to get the plant to open..."

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!" Tanner screamed.

"Oops... Diego, listen up! When me and my brothers ran into this plant before, I remember that there was something on the bottom of the insides!" Ellie called out, hoping that the tiger she addressed could hear her.

* * *

"Bottom of the insides?" Diego mused, more to himself than to Shira.

The acid had risen to a little over four feet now, and both tigers were trying to inch upwards as much as they can to delay the digesting process.

Shira looked down, and could barely make out a funny shape at the bottom. She gestured to Diego, pointing at the thing she was looking at. Diego squinted at the strange object, knowing very well that it was most likely what Ellie was referring to.

The acid was still gradually increasing, now being about five and a half feet deep. The male tiger knew he had to act fast in approximately the next minute or so, or both he and Shira were going to be toast. He went down to the bottom, and saw that the object both he and Shira noticed was a cap. He removed it, and a red and blue wire were located inside. He caught on to the fact that he had to cut one of them, but there was no indication which one was the right one. He had no time to go back to the surface and holler to Ellie and ask her, because a) time was running out and b) the mammoth most likely forgot, 'cause seriously, who remembers the color of wires?

He randomly chose the red one, and with an extended claw, a simple flick was all it took. But of course, it was the wrong wire (Tough luck), and it just made the situation worse by increasing the acid rising rate greatly. He almost could hear Shira yelling at him for making such a careless mistake, and would've probably come up with some snarky reply if he didn't feel a slight stinging feeling of digestion beginning to tear at his thigh. He desperately tried to keep himself from drifting up to the top, and once he got close enough, he hurriedly cut the other blue wire. The next thing he knew, he and Shira were both spit out and hit the ground rather ungracefully.

He coughed as he got up. "Well that went well."

Shira gave him a look before looking down. "Yeah... By the way, thanks, I guess..."

Diego looked at her for a small second before smirking. "Ya know, maybe I oughta save you more, 'cause it seems as if it's really helping in getting me on your good side."

"Yeah, keep dreaming," Shira glared. "I still don't trust you."

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU QUIT MAKING GOOGLY EYES AT EACH OTHER AND HELP ME?!"

Both sabers jumped at the new voice, and quickly looked over at where it came from. They saw Tanner struggling to free his paw from the mouth of the Venus flytrap both possums had encountered.

"Is it...not coming off or something?" Diego asked slowly.

"Oh no, I'm just waiting for this thing to digest me!" Tanner shot bitterly.

Diego rolled his eyes. "Alright, calm down. I'm going over to take a look."

He went over and inspected the tight, almost-permanent grip the flytrap had on the wolf's paw. He eventually said the dreadful truth, "It's not gonna come off until it's done digesting."

"So we're all just gonna sit here and do nothing?! You and I both know that this thing is going to engulf my whole body!"

"Tanner, cool it..."

"COOL IT?! EXCUSE ME, BUT HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO COOL IT WHEN I KNOW THERE'S NO HOPE LEFT?!" Tanner waved his free paw around frantically, accidentally backhanding Louis in the process, sending the molehog flying. However, the wolf hardly noticed this. "So I'm just gonna get digested like this?!"

"TANNER!" Diego shouted.

Tanner fell silent sulkily.

"I'm not saying we're not gonna do anything about it, 'cause we are! I'm just saying that the plant's not gonna let go no matter what!" Diego continued.

"Oh really, 'cause I don't see how we'll handle this without making the stupid thing let-" Tanner stopped abruptly once he caught on to what Diego was trying to say. "Oh no..."

"Tanner, please..."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me. We should at least try something else first."

"Then what can we try?!" Diego shot at him.

Tanner fell silent once again, knowing that he was right.

In a calmer tone, the tiger added, "It's not gonna be as bad as you think it's gonna be."

"If we go ahead with this, I won't even be able to walk!"

Almost everyone else had caught on to what was going on, but with he and his brother as dense as ever, Eddie asked, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Tanner's paw needs to be cut off," Diego informed rather bluntly.

Eddie's jaw drops, and so does Crash's.

"I'm still not going with this," Tanner refused stubbornly.

Diego, losing patience for probably the millionth time that day, exclaimed, "Do you want a missing paw or a complete experience with digestion?! I don't know about you, but I would go with the missing paw!"

With that point made, Tanner knew that he had no choice but to consent. He looked at his claws. "My claws are pretty dull. Someone needs to cut it off for me."

"I'll do it," Diego offered. He held up his right paw and held it close to Tanner's wrist. He looked at the wolf. "This'll only last a couple of seconds," he said slightly sympathetically. "You ready?"

Tanner mentally prepared himself, and slowly but surely nodded. He turned to the others, "If anyone here is squeamish, you best turn away now."

Peaches and Louis both walked away a few yards, but still couldn't stop looking at the scene about to unfold.

Tanner closed his eyes and gestured for Diego to proceed. As a zombie, he personally couldn't feel any physical pain, but he couldn't help wincing when he felt Diego's claws pierce past his fur and into his skin...

**So... Tanner has lost a paw, folks! Yes, I'm evil. Mwahahaha. :D**

**By the way, I apologize for the lack of Manny, Sid, and Howie. They'll definitely appear in the next chapter, and I'll even try to focus on them, but no promises. I'm not a very balanced person, so most of the stuff I planned out involve Diego and Tanner's group. UGGGGHHHH**

**Another apology: The part where Diego frees himself and Shira is such a rip-off from the actual scene with Buck, Manny, and Diego. D:**

**Third apology: I called the flytrap plant a 'thing' so many times in this chapter. I'm not sure if it's too noticeable, but still...**

**Review though! Please?**


	9. Connections Revealed

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

"My feet hurt! Woe is me!" Sid wailed annoyingly.

Although he himself wasn't complaining, Manny was aware that he was also exhausted. Fortunately enough, Howie wasn't the type to push anyone too hard.

"Okay, we'll stop here for the rest of the day. You didn't really have any breaks last night anyway."

* * *

Tanner moodily looked at the stub where his paw once was. He was currently sitting on Ellie's back, now that he couldn't go two feet without tripping over himself. "This is humiliating…"

Diego, having grown tired of Tanner's tirade, announced, "I think we should just take a break for the day…"

Everyone else was glad to hear that, as the tight pinch they had with the plants had worn all of them out. Tanner was especially happy to get off of Ellie's back.

* * *

"Tada!" Sid proclaimed proudly, admiring the fire he created. "Perfect warmth!"

"Sid, it isn't that cold," stated Manny.

Sid frowned at him. "Hey! Howie's cold. Right Howie?"

"I'm a zombie, so I can't tell temperature. Sorry."

Sid pouted. After a few minutes of silence, he couldn't take it any longer. "How'd you die?" he blurted out.

"Sid…" Manny hissed quietly.

Luckily, Howie didn't take any offense. "To be honest, I don't even know the answer to that. I was pretty little when I died, so I don't remember much about what happened."

Manny thoughtfully frowned.

"Wait, if you died as a kid, then why do you look so big now?" Sid asked, utterly confused.

"This is what I would probably look like if I was still alive, save for the scars and the missing eye, at least. It's not like I actually grew, but it's just a representation of the age I'm supposed to be right now… Did that make any sense?"

Sid shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, but no."

Manny, deciding to speak up at that moment, said, "Howie, maybe…we should talk."

Sid was about to ask Manny if he could join the chat, but the mammoth, eying him knowingly, added, "Privately."

* * *

"So then Wiener came in and took on the hairy ape Gutt!"

"Who knew that kid had it in him?"

Louis blushed in embarrassment at the exaggerated stories and the rare praise he was receiving from the possums. Diego and Tanner were listening, and both were impressed, to say the least.

"So Little Moley did all that?" Tanner smiled for the first time since the loss of his paw.

"I…I only did what I did to protect the ones I care about, " Louis said modestly, avoiding eye contact with Peaches, who was smiling proudly at him. "At that moment, I never thought about the possibility of dying; I just acted on instinct."

A small flicker of a smile escaped from Diego's mouth. "That's what happens when you put others before yourself. Common sense tries to stop you from going out there, but what your heart truly wants always wins," he sighed, before getting up and walking off.

Crash and Eddie stared after him, with the former asking, "What's with him?"

Tanner looked uncomfortable. "He's been through a lot, so you might need to give him some time…"

"Time?" Shira repeated. "I already gave him some time; heck, we all did. I've noticed something up with him the second I saw him, but he only keeps on dropping occasional hints that don't help much at all. I know that he's known us for barely a day, but he knows that I suspect something, so I don't see what the point is in trying to keep whatever he's hiding a secret."

"He's not telling you guys anything because he's afraid to!" Tanner exclaimed exasperatedly. "Look, it's got something to do with that mammoth and sloth you're looking for. That's all I'm gonna say. This is a story that's supposed to come from him, not from me."

The herd fell silent, and Shira quietly got up and went in the direction Diego headed to. She found him not too far away, gazing out at the nothingness of the landscape. She broke the silence.

"You know them."

Diego looked at Shira from a side glance, not all that surprised to see her.

"You shouldn't just bottle up your feelings like this," she continued. "I'm here to listen. Whatever you say, I won't make any judgments."

He still didn't say anything, which Shira took as a invitation to add on.

"Do you want to know how I met Manny and Sid? I wasn't a lonely saber in search of a pack or anything. Instead, I was a pirate – first mate, as a matter of fact – on Gutt's crew. Long story short, I found out that he didn't have my back like I thought he did, so I joined the herd." She gave a slight chuckle at the memory. "But my point is that I know how you feel, not knowing who you should trust. Whatever happened had something to do with that Soto guy, didn't it?"

Diego kept quiet for another minute, before finally speaking. "Okay. I'll tell you my story. About Soto, Manny, Sid, and me. Everything."

* * *

"I once had a mate and son before I met Ellie," Manny began. "They were the most important things to me back then. We were one big, happy family."

Howie nodded slowly, soaking it all in. He wasn't sure why Manny was telling him all this when they barely even knew each other. However, he decided to let the other mammoth finish.

"We were migrating one year, and unfortunately, humans were camping nearby. They must've thought we would've made good fur coats or something, so they attacked us."

Howie's eyes widened slightly. He couldn't sworn that seemed familiar…

"There were a bunch of them, and they knew how to put up a fight. I told my family to run and hide, while I did my best to fend them off."

Howie's head suddenly started overflowing with memories. _"Ginny, take Howard and find shelter!" "But…" "Now!"_

"That was a mistake, because then they were completely unguarded. The next thing I knew, both my mate and son were gone forever."

_He felt a spear pierce into his side, and he fell, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing he saw was the blood pouring out from his side…_

"Those humans were merciless; they tried to kill me too, but seeing my entire family suddenly disappearing from my life put me into a blind rage. I fought back as hard as I could, and I think I might've even killed a couple, but I didn't care what would happen at that time."

"_GINNY!"_

"After they fled, I didn't know what to do with myself anymore, until I met Sid. He managed to pull me out of my depression. Not completely, but it was enough for me to stop contemplating suicide ten times a day. I finally moved on when I met Ellie, but that doesn't mean that I ever forgot about my first family."

"_HOWARD!"_

"…I'm sorry," Howie mumbled at last. "You were really affected by it, weren't you? And that's why he's promising you right now that he'll make it up to you. He'll do his best to reunite you with your new family, no matter what it takes."

* * *

"Soto wanted revenge on the human tribe that had slaughtered half our pack by kidnapping and eating the chief's baby son. I didn't say this before, but I was his second-in-command and the only one he trusted, so he told me that I was in charge of nabbing the baby during our ambush. I tried to do exactly that, but I should've known that the mother wasn't going to hand over her child so easily. So I chased her out of the settlement and cornered her at the top of a waterfall. But instead of just simply giving the baby up, she jumped over the edge. When I went back to my pack empty-handed, Soto was furious with me. He sent me to go find and retrieve the baby, and the next time I saw him, he was with Manny and Sid, and they were trying to find a way to return him to his herd."

Shira listened intently, word for word. What she had been trying to dig out of Diego was finally digging itself out.

"I don't know exactly how he ended up with them, but that's not important. Anyway, I managed to convince them that I could help track the humans down for them, when in reality, I was trying to lead them to another ambush from my pack. But…" Diego suddenly sounded slightly on edge. "Manny…did something for me, so my conscious kind of sprang up, so I, uh….betrayed my pack mates and decided to help Manny, Sid, and the baby escape. They weren't too happy when I fessed up at first though," he added, wincing at the memory of Manny pinning him against the wall.

"So you risked your life for them and got scarred fatally across the shoulder by Soto?" Shira quickly caught on.

"Uh, yeah, that's pretty much it."

"…Wow," was all Shira could say at first.

"You could tell them if you want," Diego said, breaking the awkward silence, referring to Ellie and the others. "Now that you know, I don't really care if your friends know too." He started to walk back to the group, but stopped when he heard Shira say, "I know I already said this, but thanks for saving me back there."

Diego turned back around with a smile – not a sarcastic smile, or one of his annoying smirks that always sent Shira over the edge each time, but a true, genuine smile. "No problem," he simply replied, and then he was gone.

Shira didn't move from the spot where she stood, mentally berating herself for thinking what she thought when Diego had smiled at her: _He's actually kind of cute._

Despite this, however, she subtly smiled to herself. _Maybe he's not as big of a freak as I thought he was…_

**Yup, confessions in both groups. Howie turns out to be Manny's dead son, and Diego finally reveals what was bothering him all along. I hope that didn't come too suddenly, but I really wanted to get it over with so I didn't have to worry about it later on…**

**So, as you noticed, there's been a slight relationship development between Diego and Shira. In case you're wondering, yes, those two will start getting along better now, though they might still have their little spats from time to time.**

**Please review!**


	10. Comforting Words

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

Sid, not giving in, had secretly climbed on to Manny's back when he and Howie went to have their private talk, not thinking to respect their privacy. He sat through the entire conversation, listening intently to Manny's past. However, Howie's reply made him frown in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? …It clicked. He fainted dead out, slid off of Manny's back and landed on the ground with a soft _thud_.

Manny stood rigid, out of shock and out of joy. His heart had momentarily stopped when he heard Howie finally speak, and he didn't know whether to hug his son or stay standing like a wide-eyed idiot. He decided on the former and warmly embraced Howie, whispering quietly, "I thought I'd never see you again."

Howie had shut his eyes to keep the endless tears from flowing out, but to no avail; he was sobbing like a little boy. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

The moment was ruined once he opened his eyes slightly, just enough to see an unconscious Sid lying in the dust. He sniffled and wiped his tears away, and said, "Uncle Sid, get up."

Manny pulled away from the hug and turned around to see his sloth friend. "Sid!" he exclaimed, annoyed. "Didn't I tell you that I didn't need you involved in this conversation?!" He stopped scolding when he realized something, and turned back to Howie. "…Uncle?"

Sid sat up, suddenly awake. "Uncle?"

"Yeah," Howie replied, looking confused. "You're my dad, and since he's like your best friend, shouldn't he be classified as my uncle?"

Manny shot a side glance at Sid. "I wouldn't say he's my best friend…"

Sid chuckled. "Oh, you say that, but you don't mean it…right?"

Manny shrugged casually. "I don't know, do I?"

Sid frowned, and was about to question it further if Howie didn't interrupt. "Okay, I think we should just get some rest, after this huge surprise and everything else. We'll continue trying to find your herd in the morning."

* * *

Morning arrived, and Diego's group had set out, continuing on their journey. Shira kept a close eye on Diego, who was trudging ahead, trying to track down Manny and Sid. After Tanner had lost his paw, Diego had decided last night not to put the work on him anymore, which took a huge toll to Tanner's pride. Shira couldn't help but be amused at their argument about it last night. It had started out small, but it gradually grew bigger and louder, until it actually escalated into a physical fight, right in front of everyone else too (Crash was rooting for Diego, while Eddie rooted for Tanner). Of course, with Tanner being short one paw and Diego having all four of his, the latter had won in a landslide (Crash rubbed the victory in Eddie's face, resulting in an immediate slap fight).

Shira shook her head and gave a small eye roll at the memory of Diego and Tanner's love-hate relationship. Her thoughts soon went back to her chat with Diego. After pondering about it for a minute or two, she had officially decided that it was best if they didn't know, despite Diego already saying that he didn't really mind, because she didn't know how awkward things would have gotten if the rest of the group, especially with Ellie and Peaches, if they found out that their main guide in the zombie land was initially going to kill Manny and Sid but changed his mind at the last minute.

"Shira?"

She jerked out of her internal thoughts and turned to Diego, now standing by her. "Yeah?"

"You're spacing out. Either that, or you sense something dangerous," he looked at her almost worriedly. Almost.

"Right, um… I'm just wondering if Manny and Sid are okay."

Diego didn't seem to buy it, having raised an eyebrow questioningly, but left her alone and went back up ahead.

Ellie, however, smirked. Shira was slightly behind everyone else due to her 'spacing out,' so the mammoth waited for her to catch up, before saying, with her voice laced with mirth, "Shira. Girl talk. Now."

In her mind, Shira gulped. Whenever Ellie used that tone of voice, she was always on to something. And she had a gut feeling that this was no exception. "What?"

"What exactly happened last night with you and Diego?"

Dammit. Shira tried to play it cool. "Nothing happened. We just talked."

Ellie gave her a very unconvinced look.

"Okay, so he told me some…personal stories of his, and I'm just thinking about them."

"I thought he told me that he seemed like a freak."

_I did. _"Well, I suppose I was wrong then." Catching the look on her friend's face, she quickly added, "But he's still not exactly normal."

Ellie shrugged. "No, he isn't. But then again, neither are we."

* * *

"I don't mean to sound rude, but how long will it take for us to find Dee-Dee?" Sid asked, trying not to seem impatient.

Howie walked slightly ahead, scouting out the area. "Depends, actually. He might have headed off somewhere else, or he stayed put. Hopefully, it's the second one." He stopped to ask a nearby zombie armadillo if he had seen a saber.

"Uh, yeah, I saw one going that way," the armadillo replied, pointing in the direction they were heading. "He was all alone too. Poor guy might be happy to see someone he can talk to."

"Okay, thanks!" Howie smiled before turning to Manny and Sid. "We must be on the right track. Come on."

They trekked for a good five minutes or so, and Howie detected the silhouette of a lone saber-toothed tiger, whose back was turned to them. Howie called out happily, "Uncle Dee-Dee!"

The saber turned around, wearing a deep scowl on his face. "Uncle Dee-Dee?"

Howie fearfully froze in his place. "You're not…"

The tiger's eyes trailed to Manny and Sid behind the undead mammoth, and they narrowed after he got a good glimpse. "I know you two…"

Sid was unsurprisingly confused at the tiger's obvious resentment toward them. "Who are you?"

Manny, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes back. "I remember you. Soto, was it?"

* * *

Diego could sense it. Not 'it' as in something bad, but something good. Very good. Well, at least for the herd. He voiced his discovery, "Manny and Sid are close by. There's only about half a mile left to cover."

With that being said, pretty much the entire herd rushed off ahead, overjoyed to be reunited with their friends. However, Shira stayed behind, as she noticed that Diego wasn't moving from his spot at all.

"What's the matter?" she asked, trying not to sound like some overly concerned mother hen.

"I don't know if I should do this," Diego muttered back, looking down at his feet.

"Why not?"

"I told you, didn't I? About what happened to me before. I don't know what Manny and Sid would think if they saw me again."

Shira was slightly surprised at Diego's unexpected fear of this. But then again, she could understand. After all, after switching sides from the pirates to the herd, she didn't know if they would accept her under their wing or push her aside. This made her flash back to the time when she was still with Gutt. When Manny had put her inside a tree prison, Sid somehow convinced him that Shira needed proper care. So Manny had given her some water. He talked to her for a little while, prompting the idea that Gutt really didn't care about her at all. Pulling herself back to the present, she told Diego, "They haven't forgotten about you or what you did for them, you know. They don't think of you as another member of Soto's pack."

Diego looked up at her, staring straight into her bright sapphire eyes. Shira, discreetly fidgeting under his intense gaze (Why was she even fidgeting? He wasn't a threat or anything), continued, "I happen to remember a certain conversation I had with them one time…"

_Shira sat glumly inside the tree. What had she done to deserve this cruel punishment? And to think, from two herbivores too. Her ears perked up when she heard footsteps quickly approaching, and her first instinct was to growl viciously at whoever was outside._

"_Calm down; it's just me," Manny called from outside. "Uh, Sid thought you were some kind of toddler who doesn't know how to take care of herself, so…here's some water." He pushed a small bowl of water inside._

_Shira stared at her reflection in the water, and was about to push it back outside until Manny cut in, "You can say that you don't want it, but then again, I don't think you'd like to die of thirst."_

_Shira scowled and mentally cursed mammoths for their telepathic ability. "Fine. Thank you," she managed to bite out._

_Manny, disregarding her venomous tone of voice, replied, "Don't mention it." He turned around to walk away, but Shira had asked, "Why do you do these things for me? We're enemies, aren't we?"_

_Manny turned back around and said, "Enemy or not, I don't want to let another animal die just because I captured her."_

"_That isn't something Gutt would do."_

"_And that's because Gutt doesn't care. Have you seen him sending out any search parties to look for you?"_

_Shira avoided eye contact, reassuring herself that Gutt wouldn't desert her like this. "He wouldn't do that. He really does care."_

"_Then tell me why he didn't seem to miss you at all when I saw him building a new ship."_

_Shira shook her head deniably, refusing to believe the dreadful truth, yet in the very back of the mind, she had a sick feeling that Manny had a point. "I've been his first mate for years, and I was always by his side."_

"_But that doesn't mean he was always by yours."_

_Shira fell silent. She finally questioned, "How would you know so much about stuff like this?"_

_Manny's eyes seemed to soften for a bit, and he answered, "I once knew someone like you. He was just as stubborn, he was just as sarcastic, and he was especially just as sneaky as you are. We didn't like each other at first, but…he defended me and Sid when we needed him the most."_

_Shira, not getting what Manny was hinting at, sighed and went deeper into her prison hole. "You can leave now. I don't really feel like talking anymore."  
_

_Manny stayed at the entrance for a moment, before turning his head and finally going away._

Now that Shira thought about it, the chat she had with Manny back then made a lot more sense now that she knew whom he was talking about. Diego stayed silent, staring into space at nothing. He soon snapped out of it, realizing that he had let the others go off too far ahead without him. He nudged Shira and motioned forward. They both hurried off to catch up, and stopped when they found everyone else all staring at something. With her eyes and without words, Shira asked Ellie what was the matter. Ellie uncomfortably nodded her head at a scene about a few hundred feet away. Shira followed her line of sight, and was surprised to see Manny and Sid, along with another mammoth and a saber.

"Who are you?" they all heard Sid ask obliviously.

Diego growled lowly, either from Sid's stupidity or at the other male saber, who was now positioned to pounce. Probably both. "Soto…"

Ellie looked at him, not knowing what he was talking about. "Soto?"

Shira's eyes widened, and she almost took a step back. _This is Soto?_


	11. Tragic Battle

…**I am so sorry for not updating sooner. I blame Rise of the Guardians.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

Soto gave a long snarl. "So you are that fat mammoth and that stupid sloth."

"I'm not stupid!" Sid complained.

Manny ignored him and glared at Soto. "It's poofy, not fat."

Soto rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Why are you and your filthy friend here?"

Keeping a stony expression, Manny replied, "It's none of your business. Now beat it."

Soto gave a dry laugh. "You think I'll just step aside just because you said so? Dream on, mammoth. You took my life, and I'm always one to return the favor."

* * *

Diego watched the exchange between Manny and Soto from a distance. His attention was fully focused on them, and he didn't even notice all eyes on him.

Ellie shook him out of it when she said, "I don't know what's going on here, but we shouldn't stand here and do nothing when we could be over there helping."

"You're going to have to get past us first."

Everyone, including Diego, was not expecting the new voice. Three other sabers suddenly appeared, glaring at all of them. Diego, instantly recognizing them, groaned. "Not you three…"

"Surprise!" the middle one, who was the speaker before, muttered sarcastically. "Did you miss us?"

"As a matter of fact, no."

"That was meant to be rhetorical," the unknown saber growled. "Not that that's a big deal, because all of us sure as hell didn't miss you."

"Hurtful, Oscar," Diego replied snidely.

"H-H-Hey, look, guys!" the hyperactive saber on the left piped up, looking at the herd. "Another walking buffet!"

"Congratulations, you found dinner. Just by looking at you, I can tell you need it," Shira muttered, referring to Zeke's scrawny figure.

"Watch that mouth, sabers," the third one warned dangerously. "You're a female, and we're all males. We'll be able to take you down within a second."

Shira started mumbling about how male sabers were a sexist lot before retorting back, "Don't you mean your comrades can take me down? I seriously don't see how you're capable, considering that you're obese."

Lenny snarled. "I'm serious when I'm telling you to watch it."

Shira simply gave a dry, slightly taunting smile.

"Okay, so you're Diego's, um…friends," Peaches said hurriedly, making a failed attempt to maintain peace. "Anyway, we're in a hurry, and my dad's over there, so-"

"Absolutely not," Oscar snapped sharply. "Your precious _father _won't even be alive by the time our leader is through with him."

Zeke chuckled crazily. "And he gave us the honor of taking out all witnesses!"

Tanner, having lost a paw and shamefully sitting on a mammoth cow's back, was not in the best of moods, to say the least. Growling impatiently, he hacked up a loogie and spat it down right in Zeke's face. Diego failed in masking his amusement.

Zeke wiped his face with his front paw disgustedly. "You are so going down for that!"

Tanner smirked and slid off of Ellie's back. "There, I'm down now. Happy?"

"Not until I slit your throat first!" Zeke lunged for Tanner, and they both rolled around on the ground, biting and scratching.

Zeke's tackle was like the fuse on a bomb that had been lit. For at that moment, the entire herd had attacked Diego's three former pack mates, desperate to reunite with Manny and Sid.

* * *

Manny and Sid (mostly Manny) were trying to fight Soto off, but to no avail. Things were repetitive for a while now; Soto kept on lunging at Manny, trying to go for his throat, and Manny just kept on evading and dodging. Sid just uselessly flung dirt at Soto, who ignored the sloth who was practically of no threat. He'll just deal with him once the mammoth was taken care of.

Howie was having an internal battle within himself. _All that time, it was Soto, not Uncle Dee-Dee! That gazelle and Amarillo must have been thought I was talking about him!_

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a female voice cry out, "DADDY!" behind him. That diverted his attention, as well as the other three's, and they all turned toward the voice.

Manny froze once he saw the sight. He saw his daughter, much to his joy, but a lot of that relief disappeared when he saw her cradle a fatally wounded molehog in her trunk.

* * *

The fight was going in the herd's favor, due to them massively outnumbering Zeke, Lenny, and Oscar. Tanner had been assisted by Ellie and Peaches (once again with Crash and Eddie rooting), and Shira had easily taken down the overweight Lenny, with Granny occasionally clonking him on the head, nagging him about eating less (It surprisingly served as a nice distraction for Shira to gain the upperhand). Diego was facing off against Oscar, and it was safe to say that the latter was quite pissed off at the inability to overpower his former pack mate. Louis, however, was standing motionlessly, not knowing whom to help.

"Whatsa matter, Oscar?" Diego asked condescendingly. "You don't seem too happy."

Old habits (or attitudes, in this case) die hard. Out of the corner of his eye, Oscar saw that molehog standing, still lost on what to do. He inwardly smirked to himself, suddenly realizing Diego's weakness: the safety of the herd. Before Diego could react, Oscar had made a long leap in Louis's direction. By the time poor Louis noticed a giant tiger racing towards him, it was already too late. The next thing he knew, an extended claw plunged itself into his stomach, and traveled down to the base of his neck. He screamed in pain. It was probably the loudest he ever screamed in his life.

Oscar took his claw out and faced Diego with a sneer on his face. "Looks like your weak point just put you in a tight spot."

Peaches, having heard her best friend scream, turned to see Oscar standing above a gutted Louis. She cried out, "No!" and hurried to her friend's side with unshed tears.

Diego shook out of his stupor, not believing what Oscar just did. He knew that Soto would undoubtedly sink that low, but Oscar? He couldn't believe the nerve of him. Furious, he let out a deafening roar and knocked the evil tiger to the ground.

* * *

Soto, for one thing, looked extremely pleased to see the horrified looks on the mammoth and sloth's faces. He prepared himself to leap at Manny, but suddenly, something shoved him out of the way. He recovered himself to see that other mammoth – the zombie one – tower over him.

"Go," Howie said in a shaky voice. "Your pack mates have done more than enough."

Soto sneered. "Fine. But this is far from over. Till we meet again." He then barked to Zeke, Lenny, and Oscar. "Boys! Time to go. We'll deal with the rest of them later."

The other three obeyed with no protest. Once they were gone, Howie went over to Peaches. "I'm…really sorry."

Peaches sniffed. "It's okay… It's okay…"

"Hey… He'll turn into a zombie. So he'll kinda sorta be alive," Tanner tried to cheer her up.

"Tanner, not helping," Diego hissed and glared disapprovingly at him.

"Hey, just trying to look on the bright side here."

Manny and Sid had also approached the group. Diego diverted his attention from Louis to both of them. "Hey, guys," he said, giving them a small smile.

Manny gave the same kind of tiny smile back. "Hey… Diego."

**...I hate this chapter, which is another reason why I didn't update sooner. And no, it's not because Louis died. I wish I could write more, but I'm running out of time ARRRRGGGGHHHHH**

**So I updated this and both of my Rise of the Guardians fics all at the same time. I'm gonna go to bed after this, and something tells me that my inbox is gonna get ambushed by the time I wake up in the morning. 'Cause seriously, the Rise of the Guardians archive is crazy. Unless if you guys check out Rise of the Guardians fanfiction, you probably don't care.**

**I'm going to Vegas tomorrow, so I'll be gone for the next three days. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter by then, and I won't take so long to update this time.**

**Again, I blame Rise of the Guardians. Jack is hot. That's such an oxymoron.**

**I also busied myself with the Rise of the Guardians video game **_**and**_** the Continental Drift DVD. By the way, there wasn't any kiss scene in the deleted scenes section, just to let you guys know.**

**Please review!**


	12. Some Light Shed

**I really owe you guys big time for not updating for so long last chapter. You guys can settle for a Christmas present that is over one and a half months late, right?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.**

Sid froze. "Diego?"

_Reeks of an entire wasteland of dead animals waiting to get eaten by vultures, _were the first words to run across Diego's mind as he was tackled by the smelly sloth.

"You're okay! You're okay! Uh, not really, but you're sorta okay!" Sid was crying now. He let go of Diego, and punched him in the arm.

"Ah!"

Sid ignored Diego's obvious displeasure. "I could kiss you!" He kissed the top of Diego's head multiple times, but paused soon after. "Yuck! Zombie hairball!"

"I apologize for him," Manny deadpanned.

Diego wiped the top of his head and said through gritted teeth, "Nah... It's cool. He's just a happy sloth. A happy, idiotic sloth, but still a happy sloth."

"Wait, wait, wait... You know them?!" Howie questioned Diego, shocked.

"You know him?!" Ellie stared at Manny.

"I should be asking you that!" was her mate's immediate reply.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know any of you except for Diego and Howie?!" Tanner exclaimed, frustrated.

"I'm lost!" Sid cried out. "What's going on?!"

"SHUT UP!"

All eyes were on a very annoyed Shira. "Thank you," was all she simply said. She motioned to an equally exasperated Diego.

"Look, I'll explain everything later, okay? Don't we have something else to worry about?" the male tiger grouched wearily.

As if on cue, a soft groan was heard from Louis's direction. All heads snapped in his direction, and Peaches looked down at her best friend, tears still brimming in her eyes. Louis blinked open his eyelids, revealing the red irises that used to be brown. "What...happened?"

Peaches started crying again, though this time out of pure relief and joy that Louis wasn't completely gone. "You got killed by that nasty saber!"

Louis's eyes widened as it came rushing back to him, and weaseled himself out of Peaches's trunk. "I remember..." he choked out. "He just...pounced on me and...and..." He started hyperventilating, having a panic attack.

"I didn't know zombies could hyperventilate," Tanner remarked.

Louis's eyes just about bugged out of his head once he heard that, and started hyperventilating even faster and harder. "Z...Zombie?! I'm a..."

"Zombie," Diego finished for him grimly. "Maybe we should wait till you're completely recovered from the shock before I launch into some detailed explanation on what is going on here."

"What's going on here?" Louis was almost too scared to ask, but did nevertheless.

"Me and Manny used to know Diego, this mammoth named Howie, who was guiding us through this wasteland, is Manny's undead son, and everyone here knows each other minus the wolf," Sid piped up cheerfully.

That was the final blow. Louis fainted, landing unceremoniously on his back.

"Sid!" Manny exclaimed, greatly annoyed.

"Sloth, I said wait until he recovered!" Diego shouted, equally irritated as the mammoth.

"I didn't know zombies could faint either," Tanner added offhandedly.

A beat of silence ensued, and then...

"Long-lost son?!" Everyone shouted except for Manny, Sid, Diego, and Howie.

* * *

Louis woke up approximately ten minutes later, and the newly reunited herd decided that more than enough had happened, and they resolved to continue their journey the next day. Also, Diego had a super long explanation he owed to the herd minus Shira, but before that, Manny explained about Ginny. He started off with his, Manny, and Sid's adventures with Pinky the human baby (with Manny and Sid frequently adding stuff to help the story flow), and then he had to explain to the mammoth and sloth how he ran into Shira, Louis, and Granny, and how they eventually met up with Ellie, Peaches, and the possums. In short, by the time everything was cleared up, everyone was gaping except for Shira (again).

"Okay, so let us get this straight..." Crash began.

"You used to be an evil, crabby saber, and then you turned less crabby, and then you died, and then we met you," Eddie finished.

"I'm not crabby," Diego snapped.

"Uh, buddy, you're awesome and all, but I kind of have to agree with the possums. You're the only one I know who treats Sid worse than I do," Manny said, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah?" Diego scoffed. "Name once."

"You threatened to eat me like a million times, you yelled at me for slamming a watermelon—even though that was completely justified—you hated me because I pretended to be you by putting twigs in my mouth," Sid listed all of the occasions off his fingers. "Oh yeah, and you told me—AH!"

Sid was cut off when Diego suddenly pounced on him, emitting a deafening roar, and started smothering his face in the dirt. "Are you trying to tell me something, sloth?!"

"Mmmmmppppppphhhhhh!"

Manny turned to Ellie. "This is why I wasn't completely happy until I met you," he said flatly.

"Sidney, are you in love with Lady?" Granny accused.

Sid finally managed to free himself from Diego's vice grip. "What?! Granny, what would make you think that?!"

"It ain't my fault that y'all act like an old married couple!"

"Oh yeah, thanks for saying stuff like that out loud while I was being tortured by a carnivore!"

"Are you trying to irk me, _herbivore_?" Diego asked threateningly.

Sid shut up after that.

Peaches frowned. She was not listening to Diego and Sid's banter at all. Instead, she was focusing her eyes on Howie. He looked strangely similar to the zombie mammoth that had attacked her mother. Howie also didn't seem too comfortable being around the rest of the herd, especially with Ellie, Peaches, and the possums. He must have caught Peaches looking at him suspiciously, because he avoided her eye and scooted slightly farther away. It wasn't obvious that he did this, but Peaches caught him in the act. Oh well, she'll save the interrogation for later.

Meanwhile, the possums had noticed that Shira was the only one not surprised at any part of the revelation about Diego. They both eyed her doubtfully. She eventually noticed. "What?"

"How come you seemed perfectly comfortable finding out about all of Diego's connections?" Crash asked. "Unless..."

"You knew!" Eddie accused, putting two and two together.

Shira blinked, then shrugged. "Oh. Yeah, I did."

"What?! And you never bothered to tell any of us?!"

"Some things are better kept secrets. At least, until word has no choice but to get out." Shira gave Diego a side glance.

"In my defense, you wouldn't stop bugging me about it until I told you," he retorted flatly.

Sid raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Is there something going on between you two that the rest of us should know about?"

"Sid..." Manny's voice held a warning tone in it, but his eyes clearly showed pure mirth, silently teasing the friend he had not seen in so many years.

Diego groaned. "Not you two, too..."

"Heehee!" Sid cackled. "Diego and Shira, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" This little poking fun at the tiger resulted in his face being crammed into the dirt again.

Peaches spoke up suddenly. "You know, Howie looks a lot like that crazy zombie who ambushed us, doesn't he, Mom?"

Howie's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head. "What?!"

Ellie inspected him for a second. "You're right, sweetie, he does." She gave Howie a knowing look, demanding an explanation gently but firmly.

"Right..." Howie started awkwardly. "Okay, it's true. It was me who attacked you."

"What?! You're not anything like that dude!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're a lot more like a pansy and a whole lot less deadly!" Crash added.

Ellie shot her brothers an annoyed look for calling her stepson a pansy, but Howie ignored the insult, if it even classified as one.

Tanner immediately interrupted. "Whoa, Howie, you did what?" His reaction sounded more concerned than shocked. Diego also looked slightly distressed.

"I'm fine, guys, I'm still me," Howie reassured. "It hasn't gone that far yet."

"What are you necrophilic excuses of zombies talkin' about?" Granny asked brashly.

"Excuse me, Granny, but necrophilic means abnormal love of corpses," Louis corrected, speaking his first words since waking up, having been absolutely quiet in the past hour.

"That's what I was sayin'! They're zombie-lovers!"

"I don't think they can be zombie-lovers when they're the zombies themselves," Shira contradicted.

Eddie snickered. "You're right! If anyone's necrophilic, it's you! You and Diego arousing each other and making beautiful babies together—"

Shira grabbed Crash and used him to clonk his brother on the head, rendering them both unconscious.

"I never knew Uncle Eddie was so perverted!" Peaches said, utterly disgusted.

"Oi, all of ya, shaddup! I want zombie elephant over here to answer my question!" Granny snapped irritably.

"What are elephants?" Tanner muttered.

"Zombies don't stay like this forever. We...eventually feed on ourselves." Even Howie himself was surprised at how casually he could speak that vulgar truth. "When zombies first turn to zombies, they still have a few of their human characteristics. But they'll soon feel the urge to devour the brains of living beings. And this place is only be filled with other zombies, so we can't eat anything. They eventually grow hungrier and hungrier until they can't take it anymore, and they turn on themselves, having gone insane from starvation with no control over their actions whatsoever. They tear themselves apart, basically ending their life as a zombie." He turned to his stepsister. "I'm sorry about attacking you and your family, I really am. I just spotted you all alive and well, with good brains to suck on..." He trailed off, seeing the disturbed looks on the herd's faces. "Sorry, I get kind of detailed sometimes. Anyway, I lost control for a minute, and... You know the rest."

"Howie, how long have you been suspecting that you've been starting to starve? I mean, it has to have been going on for a while for you to actually lose control, right?" Diego asked

"I don't know when it started, but I guess I started catching on...maybe two weeks ago? Time isn't definite here, so you can't blame me for not being sure."

"But the last time I saw you was a few days ago, like the day before these guys decided to show up. You could've told me what was going on, even if you weren't sure."

"Yeah, you should've told me too," Tanner piped up. "I'm your favorite uncle, after all."

That last statement seemed to set Diego off. He glared at the wolf. "When did he ever say that he liked you more than me?"

"Aw, guys, please, not this again..." Howie tried to protest.

Tanner scoffed, acting as if he didn't hear Howie at all. "Well, it's obvious I am. I think he finds me more likable than you."

"Look, I never say anything about me being better than you, even though it's true, so why pick on me with your crap?"

"You know what—" Diego and Tanner began raging at each other with explicit wordings and loud voices, but after about fifteen seconds of that nonsense, Tanner yelled a battle cry and tackled Diego, and they rolled around in the dirt. Howie put his deformed trunk to his forehead and sighed over and over again during the whole time.

"Do they...do this a lot?" Manny asked him.

"At least once every other day," was the reply that he received. "They've been at it for as long as they've known each other."

During their exchange, Diego had easily pinned Tanner down, and was currently sitting on him casually.

"Dude, get off of me!" Tanner shouted.

"Nice way with words, but no," Diego deadpanned.

"Come on! I'm missing a paw, go easy on me!"

"Huh?" Howie seemed to have noticed Tanner's amputation at last. "Uncle Tan-Tan! What happened to your paw?!"

"Uncle Tan-Tan?!" Diego burst out laughing.

"I told you not to call me that when other animals are listening!" Tanner scolded, then glared at Diego. "Now stop laughing, Diego! Or should I say, Uncle Dee-Dee!"

Diego immediately stopped cracking up. "Howie's the only one who has my permission to call me that, you son of a—"

"Both of your nicknames are ridiculous, now I won't have you guys degrade this herd with immaturity," Manny intervened flatly.

"Is he always like this?" Tanner asked Diego.

"You should've seen him back then when he was still a loner," Diego said back.

Completely disregarding the two male carnivores, Manny encouraged his son to continue, "You were saying?"

"That's about all I know about it," Howie concluded. "Also, the reason you haven't seen Mom with me is because..." He trailed off, but the meaning was clear: Ginny was long gone.

"Then you could come with us!" Sid said cheerfully, attempting to lighten up the mood. "Escape back to the living world with us!"

"Sid, he's still gonna break down even if he does get back to our world," Ellie pointed out.

"So? At least he won't go cannibal on himself in this bleak landscape! He'll have a view of our beautiful land above ground! Won't that be better than staying here and dying off for good?"

Nobody, not even Granny, could come up with an argument to contradict the sloth. He was ditzy, but he came up with some pretty clever points when he actually thought straight.

"Yeah!" Crash suddenly sat up.

"And who knows, maybe going back to the living world will bring you guys back to real life that's not undead or anything like that!" Eddie added, also restoring consciousness. He glanced at Louis. "Let's hope in right for once."

"That's about one of the craziest ideas I have ever heard," Diego finally said flatly, but then smirked. "But then again, I've betrayed my own species to sacrifice my life for a pair of saber prey and a human baby who was the son of the man who was responsible for the slaughter of my pack. And that's crazier. You can count me in, I'm coming too."

"Yeah, me too," Tanner agreed. "Only because both of them are going."

Howie gaped, not willing to believe the ginormous decision that was made in only a matter of seconds. "Are you guys sure?"

"Of course," Manny smiled. "You were wrongfully killed. Don't you think that the least you deserve is a second chance at life?"

Howie beamed. "I... Thank you so much. And I'll do my best not to suck on any more living brains, if you get what I'm saying."

"Deal!" Crash grinned, while Eddie thumbed-up with both thumbs.

"This truly is unbelievable," Tanner spoke before turning to the possums. "Now, weren't you two unconscious just a minute ago?"

**Uh, yeah, my excuse this time: Rise of the Guardians combined with writer's block.**

**I'll be honest here, I didn't plan on what I wanted to happen after the big boss fight with Soto, so I kind of just made this a chapter all about catching up with each other.**

**Rise of the Guardians fanfiction is ADDICTING.**

**I started this chapter right after I uploaded the next one, and then I left it sitting here in my documents until I decided to finish it for the past couple of days due to plain guilt.**

**I gave you a pretty long chapter, so SUCK IT, YOU CAN'T CALL ME OUT ON THAT.**

**Also, I'm changing the chapter titles, 'cause they're frickin' boring.**

**I have a Facebook page and it's on my profile at the bottom. GO LIKE IT NOW.**

**Now review if you're not too annoyed/mad at me.**


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